The one place on Earth where you walk onto a public ocean beach and pan gold from the sand. When the great Nome rush hit in 1899, thousands worked the black-sand beach of the Bering Sea shore itself, and it is STILL open, the beaches at Nome are public recreational mining ground where anyone can pan, sluice or run a small suction dredge in the surf for free, no claim needed. The gold is fine and flour-fine, but it is real, and this is one of the truly great prospecting experiences in the world. Come for summer; the sea is ice the rest of the year.
Placer gold
See it on the map
